State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola's district is recast in preliminary redistricting plan

Sen. Jeffrey Piccola might have lost some friends in his push for state oversight of Harrisburg’s government.

But it turns out the Dauphin County Republican might not really need friends in the city any more.

View full sizeJOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News, 2011Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, right, R-Dauphin County, looks over an amendment during a committee meeting in the homestretch of Pennsylvania's budget marathon in June. On the left is Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre County.

“This is clear and unequivocal gerrymandering for the benefit of preserving the seat of a Republican incumbent that was hotly contested last time and would likely be hotly contested again,” Sen. Jay Costa, the Democratic floor leader, said of Piccola’s new district.

“It’s being done purely for the purpose of preserving and maintaining the [Republican] majority [in the Senate].”

In place of the city, the 15th District would pick up rural and suburban swaths of Perry, Cumberland, Adams and York counties, linking up with other parts of York that Piccola already serves.

Geographically, the proposed layout resembles a horseshoe on an east-west axis, that, according to recent election results, would be significantly safer for the conservative and sometimes controversial Republican.

In the 15th District now, for example, 54.6 percent of voters supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential vote, according to Senate Democrat caucus figures. In the new 15th, Obama’s numbers were 44.9 percent — a 9.7 percent flip for the GOP.

Piccola, a Susquehanna Township resident, has a long-established love-hate relationship with city voters, going back to his controversial push to let then-Mayor Stephen R. Reed run the city’s schools in 2000.

He was beaten by Democrat Judy Hirsh in all city precincts in a close-call re-election in 2008, though some political observers thought that was more a function of the surge of first-time voters for Obama than anything else.

Some city residents reached Monday were angered that Piccola, who spearheaded te latest push for a receiver to manage Harrisburg’s fiscal affairs if City Council and Mayor Linda Thompson can’t reach agreement on a fiscal-recovery plan, now might avoid retaliation from Harrisburg voters.

“He’s not accountable for his actions to the people he was representing at the time of his actions,” said Neil Grover, a Harrisburg attorney and leader of the Harrisburg Debt Watch watchdog group. “This is the [Capitol] Hill taking care of the Hill, and it’s offensive.”

But Piccola stated in an interview at his Capitol office that he made no requests regarding the reshaping of his district this year. He also said he did not see this plan, adopted as a preliminary map Monday, until then.

“I made no requests before I got shown various options, and I made no requests for changes after I got shown various options,” he said. “I didn’t have a particular agenda that I was advancing.

Erik Arneson, who works for Senate Majority Leader Dominic F. Pileggi, R-Delaware County, while acknowledging Piccola’s new district is politically safer for the GOP, said the reason for changing it was population changes. Those were caused by a relocation of a Pittsburgh-based district into northeastern Pennsylvania, forcing Sen. Mike Folmer’s Lebanon County-based district to move south and west.

That left Piccola to be squeezed in between Folmer, who needed to gain population to his west, and Sen. Pat Vance in Cumberland County.

Political science professor G. Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster said that, whether it’s is openly talked about or not, both parties have long used the process to protect incumbents.

The Piccola reshaping seems to fit that bill, he said.

“Redistricting is about might, and both parties do it,” Madonna said. “If they get a chance, they’re going to do what they can to assist incumbents. And there’s nothing about it that’s illegal.”

But it was confusing, especially to voters far outside of Piccola’s Dauphin County home base who didn’t see this change coming.

John Peters, part owner of an orchard in the Adams County “Fruit Belt” that Piccola would take on, said it is jarring to think about being moved into a district with a population center two counties away in suburban Harrisburg.

He said he’s concerned about whether rural and farm issues would get the same amount of attention as they do in the present-day 33rd District, made up of Adams, Franklin and part of York counties.

Other senatorial districts affected by the Piccola horseshoe curve include:

— Vance’s 31st, which loses a portion of Cumberland County west of Carlisle to the 15th.

— Sen. Mike Waugh, 28th District in York, which loses a few municipalities to the 15th.

Voters now have 30 days to view the Senate and House maps, which are posted online at www.redistricting.state.pa.us, and file exceptions, if necessary.

Arneson said Pileggi does not consider the map a closed book and will consider all suggestions.

But in past rounds, late changes have been few and far between.

Piccola is up for re-election in 2012, and though he says he has made no final decisions, many local party officials expect him to seek a fifth four-year term in the Senate next year.

He already has one announced opponent, Democrat Rob Teplitz, a Susquehanna Township attorney and auditor general’s employee whose chance to unseat the incumbent probably got stiffer on Monday.

Teplitz declined comment on the map moves, saying he wanted more time to digest them. But he fully expects to stay in the race.

With the majority of his district still in heavily Republican Lebanon County, Folmer said he doesn’t feel politically threatened by the addition of the city and added he is ready to meet any constituents where they are.

Folmer said he hadn’t talked to Piccola about the switch, but added with a laugh that “he ought to be kissing me right now.”

In the state House

Among the state House districts that cross into neighboring counties under the preliminary redistricting plan are:

— The 193rd District, now represented by Republican Rep. Will Tallman, would pick up Mount Holly Springs borough and New Newton, South Middleton, South Newton and portions of Southampton townships in Cumberland County, while losing the southern York County portion of the area he now represents.

— The 86th District, now represented by Republican Rep. Mark Keller, would pick up Newburg and Shippensburg boroughs and Hopewell, Shippensburg, Upper Mifflin and portions of Southampton townships in Cumberland County, while losing areas of Franklin County. Perry County would remain in this district.

— The 92nd District, now represented by Republican Rep. Scott Perry, would lose South Middleton Twp. and Mount Holly Springs in Cumberland County and Wellsville in York County while picking up Monroe Twp. in Cumberland County and Warrington Twp. in York County.

— The 104th District, now represented by Republican Rep. Sue Helm, would add East Hanover and North Annville townships in Lebanon County and East Hanover Twp. in Dauphin County, while losing Jackson, Lykens, Washington, Wiconisco and Williams townships and Berrysburg, Elizabethville, Gratz, Lykens, Paxtang, Pillow and Williamstown boroughs in Dauphin County.

Featured Story

Get 'Today's Front Page' in your inbox

This newsletter is sent every morning at 6 a.m. and includes the morning's top stories, a full list of obituaries, links to comics and puzzles and the most recent news, sports and entertainment headlines.

optionalCheck here if you do not want to receive additional email offers and information.See our privacy policy

Thank you for signing up for 'Today's Front Page'

To view and subscribe to any of our other newsletters, please click here.